Facebook has said that it will not remove fake news from its platform because it does not violate its community standards. Instead, it says posts that it deems to be fake news will be "demoted" in the news feed.
The social network is currently running an advertising campaign in Britain that declares "fake news is not our friend". But it said publishers often had "very different points of view" and removing fabricated posts would be "contrary to the basic principles of free speech", the BBC reported on Friday.
Facebook has been scrutinized for its role in spreading fake news after evidence emerged that Russia tried to influence US voters using the social network.
The company on Wednesday held an event in New York where it sought to convince journalists it was tackling the problem.
"We created Facebook to be a place where different people can have a voice," John Hegeman from Facebook said while responding to CNN.
"We allow people to post it as a form of expression, but we''re not going to show it at the top of News Feed," a Facebook spokeswoman told CNN.
The site had done a trial displaying a red warning icon next to articles that fact checkers had identified as false, but later said it found this approach had "entrenched deeply held beliefs".
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Kerala Government Implements 'Fake News Detection' In School Textbooks Polish Billionaire Plans to Sue Meta Over Fake Advertisements on Facebook, Instagram Kerala Implemented "Fake News Detection" In Textbooks Before UK: Official Nurse Raped, Killed On Way Home, Body Found 9 Days Later In UP "Don't Expect Anything From Me": Kolkata Hospital's New Principal Loses Cool This US City Has Been Declared America's Least Desirable, Survey Finds Ukraine, Russia Both Claim Advances In Kursk Region Gaza Ceasefire Talks Underway In Qatar As Deaths Top 40,000 Trump To Hold Press Conference, His Campaign Adds Senior Advisers Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.